On a day when many Americans
will be reflecting upon how they can reduce their impact on the
environment, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will
board separate jets in Washington on Earth Day morning to fly 250 miles
up the east coast to New York, where they will land at separate
airports to attend separate events within a few miles of each other.

The
parallel visits of Air Force One (a 747/VC-25 aircraft) and Air Force
Two (a 757/C-32A aircraft) will delay dozens, if not hundreds of
commercial flights at Kennedy and LaGuardia
and other nearby airports as no-fly zones are implemented. Jets will be
forced to circle and burn more fuel as they wait for the VIPs to come
and go. Their security contingents consisting of dozens of cars, SUVs
and helicopters will burn even more. Throw in thousands of commuters’
cars and delivery trucks sitting idle in traffic as law enforcement
closes large swaths of the city and you have yourself a very
Earth-unfriendly day.UPDATE: Nevermind, we’re too busy partying with Christine Todd Whitman to worry about the traffic.

Disclaimer:
This is a non-partisan post which I would be writing no matter who were
in office. I’ve been known to complain when ANY president makes
frivolous trips to New York, simply because it disrupts so many people
and it is extraordinarily expensive. For both men to visit on the same
day, especially a day of supposed environmental friendliness, is
extraordinarily thoughtless, to put it mildly.

Thursday’s dual
jaunt seems especially egregious considering the frivolous nature of
Biden’s visit, in particular: He’ll be yukking it up with Whoopi and
Barbara as a guest on The View. Not sure what he’ll be
talking about, but you can be certain that whatever he has to say could
be done just as effectively using a video camera and satellite hookup
from the White House.

Meanwhile, Obama will be making a speech
about new banking and finance regulations, a worthy subject, to be
sure. Federal Hall on Wall Street, the site of George Washington’s
first inauguration which stares directly at the doors of the New York
Stock Exchange, would be the ideal location for this speech, but Obama
will deliver it from…an art and engineering school? Any symbolism of
delivering the speech in NYC is lost. He may as well save everyone the
effort and talk to the nation from the Oval Office.

And by no means am I suggesting Obama and Biden should fly on the same plane. We learned all too painfully in Russia this month about why that is a bad idea.

Area
planespotters will see the only benefit of this massive disruption, as
they will get to see two of the most beautiful aircraft in the Air
Force fleet. Judging by the flight restrictions published by the FAA, Obama will be arriving at JFK around 10am, and Biden will touch down at LaGuardia around 9am.

They will both depart by late afternoon, leaving many a frustrated traveler and commuter in their wake.